RAPAPORT...
Indian companies Dharmanandan Diamonds and Hari Krishna Exports
have adopted blockchain technology to improve traceability of stones through
the supply chain.

Dharmanandan, a Mumbai-based manufacturer, has partnered
with technology company Everledger to place its diamond-tracking data onto a
blockchain platform. The collaboration marries two existing projects:
Everledger’s diamond blockchain, which it launched in 2015, and Dharmanandan’s Diamond
Time-Lapse, a report that tracks a stone’s journey from rough to consumer.

Through the arrangement, it will now be possible to encrypt the
information in Time-Lapse reports directly onto Everledger’s blockchain
platform, at either the manufacturing or the retail stage. Consumers will then be
able to view the entire provenance report with a mobile app, Everledger said in
a statement last week.

Dharmanandan and Everledger have named this joint
initiative the Diamond Time-Lapse Protocol. It will enable them to record key
data about a stone, including its origins, transactions and certification, on
an immutable platform.

“Blockchain technology is secured using cryptography, which
means that no one can tamper with the data once it has been recorded, and
because the data is stored across its network on multiple locations, it
eliminates the risk that comes with holding data centrally,” said Brijesh
Dholakia, CEO of Hari Krishna. “This ensures authenticity of information.”

A blockchain is a digital ledger providing a public,
tamper-proof record of transactions. Several companies in the diamond industry
have expressed interest in using blockchain to improve transparency, including
De Beers, which views its Diamond Blockchain Initiative as a way of reviving
consumer confidence in the sector.